President Donald Trump and Attorney General Todd Blanche said criminal investigations into Democrats are possible as incoming House leaders prepare investigations.
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President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice are taking a confrontational stance toward congressional Democrats after the party’s midterm election victories, with Republican leaders warning Democrats against threatening officials or companies.
Trump set the tone on social media, saying investigative requests already made by Democrats are “extortion at the highest level, and they should be held accountable.” Attorney General Todd Blanche echoed that message on Sunday morning television, saying criminal investigations of Democrats are possible.
Blanche said Democrats are “not allowed to just go around threatening existing members of the administration, to go around threatening companies,” and he said Trump is concerned about that.
On Sunday news shows, congressional Democrats signalled they plan to use their new majorities to pursue investigations of the executive branch.
Rep. Robert Garcia, who is poised to chair the House Oversight Committee in the next Congress, said he is preparing investigations into what he called the “Trump crime family,” adding, “The days of us not fighting back are over.”
Democrats have also left the door open to impeachment. Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries said that if “there are people who have been ‘shortchanging the American people, screwing over the American people, or stealing from the American people, then they need to be held accountable in a manner consistent with Congress’ role, constitutionally.’”
Even with the prospect of more aggressive oversight, some Democrats voiced concerns about the pace and focus of investigations.
Sen.-elect Adam Hamilton, the first Democrat elected to the Kansas chamber in 94 years, said he is skeptical about impeachment, saying his campaign was about bringing people together and that he does not want the next two years spent “dividing our country further.” He added he understands that “some investigations are necessary” and that Democrats “have to look at what’s happened in Washington.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, said Democrats “cannot spend all of our time investigating Trump,” and that they also need to focus on “working-class families” and “make a real difference in their lives.”
Jeffries also cast doubt on the prospect of working with Trump’s chief of staff choice. Asked about working with Trump after the election, Jeffries said he would be ready to cooperate “whenever and wherever possible to deliver real results,” but criticized Trump’s decision to appoint longtime adviser Stephen Miller as chief of staff, calling him an “awful choice.”
Jeffries said, “There’s not going to be an opportunity, certainly, to work with Stephen Miller and what he represents,” adding Democrats are committed to “forcefully pushing back against the extremism” they believe Miller and Trump “may try to continue to unleash on the American people.”
Jeffries said he supports a pending resolution from Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, stating, “Hegseth has got to go,” and “I’m a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution.” Hegseth, in a video, dismissed the impeachment push as “all about the politics of personal destruction,” and said it “won’t work with me.”
Incoming Democratic senators also raised questions about their leadership. Hamilton said he has told Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is expected to be reelected unopposed, that he means no disrespect but that Schumer is “polarizing” in Kansas and that Hamilton is looking for a leader who can “bring Republicans and Democrats together.”
Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan said he had been committed to Sen. Chris Van Hollen during the Democratic primary, but acknowledged Van Hollen did not appear to be running for the post. El-Sayed said that, after the primary, he and Schumer “figured out how to work together,” and he asked: “who wants to be the leader who’s going to make sure that we deliver on the mandate that we just got?”
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